[mmaimcal] Array designations

[Simon Radford]

Just because the VLA got the direction of the letters wrong doesn't mean
we have to blindly follow.

I suggest we abandon letters for array configurations and use nominal
(or effective) sizes instead.  Call them the 100 m, 300 m, 1 km, 3 km,
10 km, 30 km(!?) arrays. Number have the advantage that they actually
mean something, so you can, for instance, calculate the approximate
resolution, etc., without having to remember (or look up) what the
letter means.

Also, it's trivial to insert an intermediate case into a numbered
sequence. If we end up with variable size (Euro) arrays, then we could
label them with their effective sizes, perhaps rounded to some suitable
number of digits.

Who, other than local staff, can say offhand what are the dimensions of
the VLA B configuration? Or the IRAM BC configuration? etc. No peeking
at user manuals!

Simon